Ebara Corporation

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Other

Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

You Ishii

Norio Kimura

Masayoshi Hirose

Hiroyuki Yano

Katsuya Okumura

Junji Kunisawa

Seiji Ishikawa

Mitsuhiko Shirakashi

Takayoshi Kawamoto

Hozumi Yasuda

Manabu Tsujimura

Masayuki Nakanishi

Toyomi Nishi

Takeshi Sakurai

Kenro Nakamura

Ritsuo Kikuta

Koji Saito

Yukio Ikeda

Tohru Watanabe

Keisuke Namiki

Tamami Takahashi

Satoshi Okazaki

Atsushi Shigeta

Masako Kodera

Masataka Watanabe

Katsuyuki Aoki

Yoshikuni Tateyama

Riichirou Aoki

Shunichiro Kojima

Kiyotaka Kawashima

Shiro Mishima

Jiro Moriya

Masako Watase

Kunio Tateishi

Hidekazu Ozawa

A substrate processing apparatus has a polishing tape and a polishing head for pressing the polishing tape against a peripheral portion of a semiconductor wafer. The substrate processing apparatus polishes the wafer due to sliding contact of the polishing tape and the wafer. The polishing head has an elastic body for supporting the polishing tape. The substrate processing apparatus has an air cylinder for pressing the polishing head so that the elastic body of the polishing head presses the polishing tape against the predetermined portion of the wafer under a constant force.

Substrate processing apparatus

A polishing apparatus and method has a function of polishing a surface of a film formed on a substrate to a flat mirror finish and a function of polishing unnecessary metal film such as copper film deposited on an outer peripheral portion of the substrate to remove such unnecessary metal film. The polishing apparatus comprises a surface polishing mechanism comprising a polishing table having a polishing surface and a top ring for holding the substrate and pressing the substrate against the polishing surface of the polishing table to thereby polish a surface of the substrate, and an outer periphery polishing mechanism for polishing an outer peripheral portion of the substrate.

Polishing apparatus and method

A substrate processing apparatus is used for removing surface irregularities occurring on a peripheral portion (a bevel portion, an edge portion, and a notch) of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, and films deposited as a contaminant on the peripheral portion of such a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus includes an edge-portion polisher for pressing a polishing tape against an edge portion of a substrate and causing relative movement between the polishing tape and the substrate to polish the edge portion of the substrate, and a bevel-portion polisher for pressing a polishing tape against a bevel portion of the substrate and causing relative movement between this polishing tape and the substrate to polish the bevel portion of the substrate.

A workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer is supported on a top ring and polished by an abrasive cloth on a turntable while the top ring is being pressed against the turntable and the turntable and the top ring are being rotated. The top ring is coupled to a top ring drive shaft, coupled to a pressure cylinder for pressing the top ring, and to a motor for rotating the top ring. A spherical bearing is interposed between the top ring and the top ring drive shaft for allowing the top ring to align with the upper surface of the moving turntable. A torque transmitting mechanism is operatively coupled between the top ring and the top ring drive shaft for rotating the top ring in synchronization with the top ring drive shaft.

Polishing apparatus

A polishing cloth mounted on a turntable is dressed by bringing a dresser in contact with the polishing cloth for restoring the polishing capability of the polishing cloth. The dressing is performed by measuring heights of a surface of the polishing cloth at radial positions of the polishing cloth in a radial direction thereof determining a rotational speed of the dresser with respect to a rotational speed of the turntable on the basis of the measured heights, and dressing the polishing cloth by pressing the dresser are rotating. The dresser has an annular diamond grain layer or an annular SiC layer.

Method and apparatus for dressing polishing cloth

An angular substrate polishing method includes the steps of holding an angular substrate having a surface to be polished within a guide ring of a substrate holding head; pressing the substrate surface to be polished, and also one surface of the guide ring, against a polishing pad; and independently rotating the polishing pad and the substrate-holding head together with the substrate it holds while pressing the polishing pad-contacting surface of the guide ring against the polishing pad, to thereby polish the substrate surface. During the polishing step, a pressing force is applied to the guide ring which is separate from the pressing force applied to the substrate, enhancing the flatness of the polished substrate.

Method for polishing angular substrates

A polishing apparatus has a turntable with a polishing cloth attached thereto and a top ring for holding and pressing a workpiece to be polished against the polishing cloth under a certain pressure. The polishing apparatus also has a first dressing unit having a contact-type dresser for dressing the polishing cloth by bringing the contact-type dresser in contact with the polishing cloth, and a second dressing unit having a noncontact-type dresser for dressing the polishing cloth with a fluid jet applied therefrom to the polishing cloth. The contact-type dresser comprises a diamond dresser or an SiC dresser.

A polishing cloth mounted on a turntable is dressed by bringing a dresser in contact with the polishing cloth for restoring the polishing capability of the polishing cloth. The dressing is performed by measuring heights of a surface of the polishing cloth at radial positions of the polishing cloth in a radial direction thereof, determining a rotational speed of the dresser with respect to a rotational speed of the turntable on the basis of the measured heights, and dressing the polishing cloth by pressing the dresser against the polishing cloth while the turntable and the dresser are rotating. The dresser has an annular diamond grain layer or an annular SiC layer.

A polishing apparatus such as a semiconductor wafer. The polishing apparatus has a turntable, a cloth cartridge detachably exchangeably mounted on the turntable, and a top ring for holding a workpiece and pressing the workpiece against the polishing cloth. The cloth cartridge includes a cartridge base member and a polishing cloth bonded to an upper surface of the cartridge base member. The cartridge base member comprises a plurality of base member segments, and the polishing cloth comprises a plurality of polishing cloth segments bonded to upper surfaces of respective of the base member segments.

Polishing apparatus having a cloth cartridge

A polishing apparatus is employed to polish an object to be polished by urging the surface of the object to be polished against the surface of a polishing cloth and causing a relative movement therebetween, while supplying a polishing liquid into an area between the object to be polished and the polishing cloth. A plurality of nozzles spray respective fluid jets to strike against the surface of the cloth. The plurality of nozzles include more than one type of nozzle which vary flow velocity, flow rate, angle of spray, and cross-sectional configuration of a jet. The plurality of nozzles have axes positioned at a location at different distances from the rotation axis of the polishing cloth.

A polishing apparatus for polishing a surface of an object such as a semiconductor wafer includes a turntable having a polishing cloth mounted on an upper surface thereof, a top ring for holding and pressing the object against the polishing cloth, and a plurality of radially arranged nozzles for supplying a polishing solution, containing abrasive material, of different concentrations that differ along a radial direction of the polishing cloth.

An apparatus and method for polishing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer to a flat mirror finish. The workpiece is held by a top ring, and a surface of the workpiece is polished by pressing the workpiece against an abrasive cloth mounted on a turntable while applying an abrasive solution onto the abrasive cloth. While the workpiece is being polished, a surface of the abrasive cloth is dressed while applying a dressing liquid onto the abrasive cloth. A polishing operation and a dressing operation are performed in such a state that the abrasive solution and the dressing liquid do not interfere with each other.

Apparatus and method for polishing workpiece

A predetermined amount of liquid such as water is supplied to a backside surface of a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer. Such liquid is a workpiece retaining liquid and is attached to a concave workpiece holding surface of a top ring. The workpiece is positioned between a turntable and the top ring and is polished by an abrasive cloth on the turntable while the workpiece is being pressed against the turntable by the top ring. While polishing, the workpiece is deformed toward the concave workpiece holding surface of the top ring, and a curvature of the deformed workpiece is controlled by the amount of liquid between the workpiece holding surface and the backside surface of the workpiece.

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Yokohama, Japan

You Ishii